Duncan Canal

Lake Bay to Duncan Canal

Day 20                         42.8 nm

In all of our trips through Wrangell Narrows, on the way to and from Petersburg, we’ve never explored the nearby Duncan Canal. It was time to spend a sunny afternoon cruising its wide, scenic spaces and rock-strewn shallow waters. We anchored Rhapsody and set out in the skiff to investigate the area. Hmmmmm, add “poorly-charted” to the descriptors. Where a chart reported 50+ feet, we recorded over 100. In Beecher Pass, a shortcut into the Narrows, a chart reported 15 feet in midchannel, but we found 6.6 feet with the bottom still coming up. Ahem! the boat draws 5 feet! It was a scenic excursion, but the pass seemed suitable only for skiffs and kayaks. I voted to skip the shortcut and take the long way back around to the south entry to Wrangell Narrows in the morning. No argument heard from the Capt.